Published 12:30 am, Friday, April 1, 2011

"For the first time," said Fox Sports co-president Eric Shanks, claiming he could watch an entire game from that view, "you get that feeling of just how quickly the pitch reaches the plate, and what the reaction time of a hitter is."

The problem, aside from the fact that technical snafus limited its use, is that Ump Cam must be approved by the umpires, players and teams. This is true of any technical innovation, an area in which Fox has pushed the envelope.

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1DirecTV, which has a better public image than most programming carriers, faces a major public-relations headache if it doesn't reach an agreement with YES Network. The current agreement expires Friday, and judging by our blog traffic (http://blog.timesunion.com/sportsmedia), Yankees games are a major reason many subscribers get the service. DirecTV survived a 51/2-month stalemate with Versus, but this situation is much more critical.

2FX, which has been out of the sports business a few years, will carry a weekly package of college football (Big 12, Pac-12, Conference USA) beginning in the fall. It's another sign that Fox, FX's parent network, eventually may become a major player in the sport.

3Some interesting programming decisions have been made by WTMM (104.5 FM) this week. The station is dumping the Yankees -- see Item 1 if you want to know about the allegiance of their fans -- in favor of the NCAA Final Four. In a less-surprising move, the station has opted out of a scheduled Devils broadcast Wednesday for the Yankees-Twins. Of course, less of John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman can't be all bad.Weekend's best

Sunday, 2 p.m.: Major-league baseball, Boston at Texas (TBS). The reigning AL champs close a season-opening home series against the preseason favorites.

Monday, 9 p.m.: College basketball, NCAA championship (CBS-6). No matter who wins Saturday's semifinal games, this will be David vs. Goliath.

fox saturday baseball

Detroit at N.Y. Yankees

When: 4 p.m. Saturday

TV: Fox-23

Baseball, a sport that needs something to ignite audiences during some 31/2-hour snorefests, should be more receptive. If someone like West is proactive about technology, others need to fall in line.

"Players have come a long way," said Eric Karros, a former L.A. Dodgers first baseman who works as a Fox game analyst. "I remember wearing a mike and thinking, 'Man, if I don't get a hit the first time, I'm going to take the mike off.' We've gotten past that sort of thing."

Also on the plate for Fox, which this week begins its 17th season of Saturday baseball with three regional games that include Tigers-Yankees, is a cable cam, which had limited use during last postseason.

Shanks said the hope is to see "if we can use it on a more consistent basis, and see what rules of the road we can come up with as far as where that camera can go during which situations."

Fox hopes to employ Cable Cam for its three consecutive weeks of prime-time games in May, as well as the All-Star Game and postseason telecasts.

"Maybe the most encouraging thing is baseball's willingness to work with us, and now to some degree players' willingness to work with us," Fox play-by-play announcer Joe Buck said. "The changes that take place, like the cable camera, that's really helped our NFL telecasts, where that camera sits behind the offense and gives you that look that you've never had before.

"It's about taking viewers where they haven't gone. Baseball's always been something that you've looked at at arm's length. If you can get in there a little more, learn more about these players' personality, get inside where they are during the course of a game, you can speed things up and make it more interesting during the course of a Saturday or during the postseason. That's what is around the corner."

Fox already occupies that corner. It's time for baseball and its players to find their way there.